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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin HIV AIDS. 2016 Mar;11(2):234–241. doi: 10.1097/COH.0000000000000230

Figure 1.

Figure 1

In HIV-infected, ART-suppressed subjects, the latent reservoir (red wheel) is maintained by continuous proliferation of latently infected cells, which can produce viral particles upon activation constituting the productive reservoir (turquoise wheel). When reactivated cells are in anatomical/cellular sanctuaries, where ART cannot diffuse efficiently, residuals levels of viral replication can occur (blue wheel), fueling continuously the latent reservoir. Increased levels of immune activation and/or inflammation promote the three mechanisms of HIV persistence (small wheels). Several therapeutic strategies designed to act directly on viral production/replication or to modulate the immune cells could be used to interrupt this vicious circle.